Tag: Tbilisi

Old Tbilisi – the labyrinth of narrow streets and wooden houses

Old Tbilisi

Old Tbilisi city wooden houses

Old Tbilisi ’s traditional houses, with their wooden and wrought iron balconies, are undeniably beautiful and one of the city’s best known historical features. Many of the houses date from the 19th century as much of the city was destroyed by the devastating Persian invasion of 1795.

Old Tbilisi ’s real soul can be explored in a diversity of wooden balconies. You can often come across houses built in Baroque and Rococo style, but here I will focus on the wooden “hanging” balconies.

The houses in this district are characterized by deep, elaborately carved, wooden balconies painted white, ochre, pale blue, and cinnamon. Sometimes the balconies are cantilevered from the front of the facade; sometimes they wrap around three sides.

Balconies, usually taking the form of glassed-in verandas, are also found facing the inner courtyard. Exterior spiral staircases-often of metal, with the treads worn paper thin-join one story to another.

Both balcony and courtyard reflect the Georgian love of company, of sharing one’s life with friends and neighbors.

They also bespeak a deep attachment to the outdoors and a repugnance at being shut in. Many courtyards boast large mulberry trees or a pergola of tightly woven grape vines beneath which sits a picnic table or two. Many a citizen’s sense of well-being is directly linked to these spaces.

The area known today as the Tbilisi Old Town is also called Kala.

It is the original settlement on the right bank of the Mtkvari River that developed below the walls of the Narikala Fortress when Vakhtang Gorgasali established his capital in Tbilisi in the fifth century.

The architecture in the old Tbilisi is a mixture of Georgian with strong influences of Byzantine, European and Middle Eastern architectural styles. The oldest parts of town, including the Abanot-Ubani, Avlabari, and to a certain extent the Sololaki districts clearly have a traditional Georgian architectural look with Middle Eastern influences.

So here is the list of top Tbilisi night clubs

Bassiani

One of the best-known clubs in the city is Bassiani, fitted with an incredible sound system and using it to deliver the finest techno and house all night long. Since opening in late 2014, Bassiani, which has given an old swimming pool a new lease on life, has become one of Georgians favourite places to experience dance music. A number of details give Bassiani it’s solid reputation: its sound system, which is one of the best you can get (Funktion 1), it’s decent lightning, it’s residents, which include local heroes like HVL and Zitto and of course it’s weekly line up, that provides the best techno and house djs from all over the world. Since 2016, the club has run it’s own label Bassiani, with the releases of Vril, Voiski, HVl, Zeskneli etc.

Mtkvarze

In the late 50’s, it went back to being a restaurant and in 2012 the place was finally transformed into a space dedicated to electronic music and art in general. Nowadays “Mtkvarze” offers the best of underground house and disco in its main room, plus a more varied playlist, from experimental music to hip-hop, in its smaller second room. There’s also a balcony with a view of the river Mtkvari. The sound system is by Void Acoustics, and many consider it to be one of the best in the world. Since its foundation, the club has already hosted international and local artists, djs as well as vjs and won “The Best Venue” price at the Awards Ceremony for the innovative Pop culture Electronauts three times in a row.

Info – Friday-Saturday: 11:00 pm – 11:00 am

Café Gallery & Didi Gallery

Café Gallery is popular for its friendly atmosphere that helps people meet each other. In spite of its small capacity – main room contains little more than a dance floor with space for less than a two hundred people – it hosts credible house and techno act like Daniel Bell, Tama Sumo, Boo Williams, Lakuti etc. Launched in 2015, Didi Gallery (owned by the same people) offers credible house and techno acts – from Detroit’s Derrick May and Kenny Larkin to Berlin’s Ellen Allien.

Mzesumzira’s Ezo

Mzesumzira is not a club, mzesumzira is not a music festival, mzesumzira is not even a community, mzesumzira is all-together. A group of DJs and just friends, created a label Mzesumzira (Sunflower) in 2014, since that time they are conducting creative and one of the most friendly and colorful event in Georgia, maybe the best open air music festivals in Tbilisi hot summer is Mzesumzira’s Ezo in Mtatsminda park with picturesque view over Tbilisi. You can take your children for day events, but be ready for all night long dancing with most relaxed people in Tbilisi.

Vitamin

Located next to one of Tbilisi’s most popular lakes, the Turtle Lake which is great place for your kids, Vitamin Cubes is an open-air venue with a main floor, an open-air cafe and an experimental stage. Cubes is a main techno stage with 160 illuminated water tanks stand in the open space. The stage is open every Friday. The Second venue is famous for its house event series named Around the Tree. An experimental stage, called “Wood” is a space where local and foreign artists give live acts on Sunday Sunset Lake Sessions. Music, wild nature and continues falling of the waterfall truly create enchanting ambiance here.

Pastemagazine.com, a U.S. monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, has published an article written by Brooklyn based writer and traveler ‘Ashley’, dedicated to the art cafes of Tbilisi, Georgia. “Picture a post-Soviet Italy influenced by the Middle East in the depths of the Caucasus Mountains and you have Tbilisi, Georgia. For travelers to this capital, a great way to understand the city’s modern sensibilities and its renewed pride—after freeing itself of Moscow’s governance—is to visit an “art cafe,” where Georgia’s true identity flourishes.” – Pastemagazine.com reports.

This is the list of 10 Georgian art cafes published by the above mentioned magazine. These places stand out with their distinct atmosphere and food as well as reflect the local culture.

ABOUT US

Located in Tbilisi, Sakura is an inbound tour operator incorporated under the Georgian legislation. The agency has been operating on the Georgian and South Caucasus tourist markets since 2014. We create and deliver quality services and unforgettable experiences at affordable prices.